Another
of those myriad of bands that had thus far never crossed my musical
landscape, arrived recently on my desk. The band go by the name of
Little Atlas, hail from Miami, and the current release is album number
4, Automatic Day, which is the follow-up album to the 2007 release, Hollow. This of course means that it has been a fairly lengthy wait for new material from followers of the band.
Little
Atlas is a four piece outfit comprising of Rik Bigai (bass), Steve
Katsikas (lead vocals and keyboards), Mark Whobery (drums) and Roy
Strattman (guitars).
Automatic Day
is a ten track album with a fairly hefty running time of around the 73
minute mark. The shortest track on the album is the final track, “Escape
Velocity” at 3:08 minutes, with track 6, “Illusion Of Control,” the
longest, at a touch over 10 minute mark. (10:18)
I
found this a very satisfying album from the very first listen and
subsequent repeat listens have cemented that feeling. I may not have
been aware of the band prior to this release, but they are now certainly
on my radar sweep when it comes to “new” bands.
Standout
tracks, I’m afraid seem to vary from listen to listen, but at the
moment. I think I would go for the opening track, “Oort,” track 5, “At
The End Of The Day” and track 8, “We All Remember Truth.” My difficulty
in choosing is simply due to the range of musical excellence which
permeates throughout the whole of Automatic Day.
As
regular readers of The Ancient One reviews will be aware, I always put a
huge amount of pressure on the opening track of an album, which sets
the scene for the rest of the album and so, with that in mind, we
approach “Oort” (8:55), the opener on Automatic Day. Superb
acoustic guitar from Roy, supplemented by outstanding electrical guitar
passages, by the same man, stamp their mark all over this opening track.
The subdued bass and drums form the perfect backdrop to the guitars,
and when it arrives, the voice of Steve is powerful and clear. Around
the 2:20 minute mark there is a stunningly simple but instantly catchy
keyboard motif before the song builds up a touch, with the keyboards
appearing more behind the vocals. There is a superb keyboard passage
around the 3:45 minute point and a terrific change to throaty vocals and
acoustic guitar as the track moves past the 6:00 minute mark. Just
after this, the heavier guitar and keyboards change the whole feel of
the track which then leads into a short almost staccato like passage
before that amazing electric guitar from Roy appears again and the
heaviness of the track is maintained until the 8 minute point. The
vocals reappear again over a terrific bass/drum engine and then there is
a short blast of the heavier sound, and it is gone. As an opening
track, it does exactly what it should do and grabs the attention of the
listener leaving then wanting more.
Track
5, “At The End Of The Day” (8:45) starts with an amalgamation of sounds
which lead to an acoustic guitar and keyboard passage with throaty,
almost pleading, vocals from Steve There is a change in tempo and sound
around the 2 minute mark but then it drops back to the gentle subdued
starting passage. There is a repeat change to the more intricate sound
at around 3:20 minute point with the keyboards starting to provide a
fine passage of play, all underpinned by the excellent bass (Rik )and
drums (Mark) before an electric guitar adds a few jagged chords and the
sound moves up several notches. The track fades out on a single bass
note.
One
of the shortest tracks, “We All Remember Truth” (4:18) is a very
different style of track to the two above, and initially seemed out of
place, but repeated listens has shown it to be an example of another
direction that Little Atlas can move into effortlessly. It is a very
addictive chunk of prog, drawing influences from many sources, but
certainly seems to “tip its hat” to the general sound that Porcupine
Tree, at their best, can produce.
All
in all, this album is very refreshing, simply due to its ability to
“move its feet” into many different sub-genres of prog. At points, there
is a hint of Dream Theater, then Porcupine Tree and ultimately, bands
like IQ and Pendragon, but, as with all really good bands, the end
result is uniquely Little Atlas. All the band members show their skills
throughout the album, Automatic Day, and I made the point at the review start about the time between Hollow (2007) and this release, but it was a wait that was well worth it.
A
millimeter or two off gaining the maximum a review can achieve, but an
amazing album that will certainly please followers and probably gain the
band many new admirers.
4.5/5 STARS
Key Tracks: Oort, At The End Of The Day, We All Remember Truth
Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson-MuzikReviews.com Staff
June 25, 2013
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